Dual-boot problems - suse 8.1
 

I recently installed SUSE 8.1 on a HDD, set as the primary boot device (hda). I have another HDD with Win98 (hdb), which I still require from time to time.
Problem is, for some reason I can't dual boot. The bootloader has Windows as an option on hdb1 which is correct (the FAT32 disk is partitioned into two), but it just won't boot Windows.
Strange thing is, I don't have this problem with Mandrake 7 which I had been using before, but I don't really want to go back to an outdated distro.

I did notice that the SUSE mount-point for Windows is Windows/C, which differs from the way it is mounted in Mandrake, but I have fiddled with this without any luck.

Please help...

Please don't post the same question more than once! I'll request that this thread be closed.

Very sorry... it was accidental: newbie here... please cut me a little slack mate, much appeciated.

I gathered that it was probably accidental, please don't think I was having a go or anything.

cheers

Jamie...

Which boot loader? Please post the GRUB.conf / LILO.conf / boot.ini. FYI, I use triple boot (DOS, NT, SuSE 8.1) with no problems, so there is a way...

Bootloader is GRUB I think. I don't have the conf. stuff on hand. Can you tell me whether the boot path is correct as hdb1 (if the Windows "C" drive is configured as a primary slave?)
It starts the process, but gets to "chain loader -1" and just hangs...

Yes, hdb1 is primary slave -- but unusual. Windows usually requires for startup the MBR (master boot record) on C: (or hda1) off the primary master, so hdb1 is D: or higher?!? Did you install it after Linux? Here is something muddled. ;)

hdb is primary slave or hdb1 is?

hdb is primary slave, of course, sorry. hdb1 is just the first partition on primary slave.

Quite right. I have a Windows "C" drive and a logical "D" drive. If it helps, the bootloader uses the MBR of the primary drive, which is purely Linux.

That's impossible. The BIOS starts the program in the MBR, either GRUB or the windows bootloader, certainly only one of those. GRUB can start the second stage of the windows bootloader, though. Now: what did you install first, Win or Lin?

Win is installed on a physical second drive: technically installed first, but that drive is set as a slave, so Linux boots from the MBR not Windows. The problem is not with first level booting: it happens when GRUB tries to boot Windows: it boots into Linux without a problem. The only thing I can think of is that the boot path for Win is wrong...

Well, that rules out a lot of errors. Did windows ever run okay from GRUB? If so reinstall GRUB with the SuSE CDs. If not ... argh, read the GRUB docs or search these forums. On my machine it worked perfectly from the start, so I never really delved deep into these things, sorry :( .

Just an afterthought: did you switch drives after you installed windows? Maybe that is what makes GRUB stumble ...